I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20
{CHAMBERS} “The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ….” He did not say, “I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ,” or, “I will really make an effort to follow Him” —but— “I have been identified with Him in His death.” […] “…it is no longer I who live….” My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.”
{ELGIN} Are you a survivor or a victor? Are you struggling to make it through the day, spiritually, or are you marching with confidence as walk follow the king of kings, tearing down every stronghold. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” Are you thinking that those verses are for someone else? That you are more of a victim than a victor? That others may be strong like that, have a faith like that, but not you. If people only knew what your spiritual life was really like! In 1977 Jay Kessler published a book entitles “The Strong Weak People”. It was about people just like us, and the spiritual law that can bring us strength in spite of our weakness. There is an old hymn, “Learning to Lean”. One verse says “Learning to lean, Learning to lean, finding more power than I ever dreamed, I’m learning to lean on Jesus.”
The spiritual struggle we face is not new to our generation. It has been a struggle from the beginning. And difficulty trusting in Jesus, that His strength can be made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9) is not new either. Relationship does not just happen. It requires us to be intentional in the pursuit of our faith. We should not ignore sin, it’s a barrier to relationship, but we should also not ignore what God has done and is doing in and through us.
John Newton, the author of the song Amazing Grace, is quoted as saying, “I am not what I ought to be — ah, how imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wish to be — I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good! I am not what I hope to be — soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was; a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, "By the grace of God I am what I am."” To that I say “Thank you Jesus!” Saint, do not lose heart. Fix your eyes on Jesus. The victory is yours in Him.
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